Google Wallet is just another till in an already open store
Posted September 23, 2011 at 9:42 amFiled under: Mobile Payments, Mobile Web, Near Field Communication by Anne Thomas Follow @Miss_mobile_web
After four months of testing Google Wallet was finally launched this week, the latest in a raft of mobile payment ‘solutions’ that show ‘tap-to-pay’ is (probably) here to stay.
For now, Google Wallet can only be accessed to a chosen group of people and it has very few retail partners, but that didn’t stop a welter of media coverage reporting on what we believe to be only a symbolic move on the part of Google.
For the lucky few, Google Wallet lets them use their Android phone as a credit card by using Near Field Communication, a system that is built in certain handsets but is uncertain to hit critical mass. Last week Wapple was at a London event with the cream of CEOs from Europe’s mobile industry. When one NFC skeptic asked how many of the 200-strong audience had NFC-compatible phones only four hands went up.
That’s why we think it’s symbolic. The mobile payments space is very crowded and while NFC is interesting, it is a long, long way from being adopted and if Europe’s leading mobile CEOs aren’t using it then nor are the general public.
In three years time the landscape could be very different, but in the interim, there’s a mobile payment object in your wallet… it’s called a credit card and it will continue to be a flexible friend for a long time to come.
Mobile Web Pioneer. Co-Founder & COO of Wapple.Net. Spreading Mobile Love. Join Me
I remember having a number of discussions with large corporations about 10 years ago on the subject of the mobile wallet. The barriers then were not so much technology, although things have dramatically improved since then, but cost and consumer demand.
It will happen, I am convinced of that, and in fact our clients are already finding value in the hospitality sector, but consumers do not know yet why they need a mobile wallet. Until the user demand exists and the consumer/provider circle is complete then it will be a technology looking for a home.
Regards
Graeme
AppSherpas.com
Mobile Payments are great but Google Wallet is only good if you’re in the “Google Club” so not for me, prefer an open til, as you put it